The Sauce: Liberal Jenny Ware places UAP’s Craig Kelly third on how-to-vote card
He may have been slammed by both major parties, but one Liberal has given Craig Kelly third spot on her how-to-vote card, saying he’s the ‘least worst option’.
NSW
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He was given a dressing down by Prime Minister Scott Morrison for promoting unproven coronavirus treatment, and has been dubbed a “menace” by Labor, but it seems ex-Liberal and anti-vaxxer Craig Kelly is not so bad after all.
In a move that shocked more than a few local Liberals last week, Hughes Liberal candidate Jenny Ware placed the United Australia Party (UAP) leader third on her how-to-vote card, ahead of four other candidates.
Was this a blatant bid for his preferences? When The Sauce asked the Liberals to explain, a source said it came down to a case of “least worst”.
The other four candidates after Kelly include Labor, a “teal” independent, the Greens and One Nation — all of which the party deemed to be “worse” than Kelly, the source said.
“When you look at everyone individually, it makes sense,” the source said.
When The Sauce contacted Kelly on Saturday, he said he was upset his old party had not put him in second spot.
“They’ve put a green independent in the No. 2 spot, and put me third,” he said, referring to local architectural design executive Linda Seymour.
“I would have preferred to be No. 2. I think they’re trying to stick it up to me a little bit.”
As for where Kelly would be putting the Liberals, he revealed that he, too, would now put Seymour — aka the “green independent” — above the Liberals, who would land in fourth sport.
“One Nation will be No. 2, and I’ll return the favour by putting the green independent the Liberals put ahead of me ahead of them at No. 3,” he said.
“I’ll then put the Liberals fourth last, Labor third last, the teal independent at No. 6 and the Greens last.”
For the record, the “teal” independent is former corporate litigator Georgia Steele, whom Liberals are also calling a “Holmes a Court independent” after she received donations from Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200 fund.
Steele is being regarded as the key threat to take the safe Liberal seat which Kelly has held since 2010.
The Liberals installed Ware into the seat after a factional brawl which resulted in the cancellation of a preselection ballot that would have been contested by NSW MP Melanie Gibbons.
It is expected Gibbons instead will be a frontrunner for a ministry in the Perrottet government.
Kelly, he said he had realistic expectations about his chances of remaining in his seat — noting that some people had declared he should have run for the Senate — but vowed to keep fighting to the end.
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation prides itself on supporting jobs for Australians “first and foremost”, so why is one of the administrators of its Facebook page coming up as being in the Philippines?
The same goes for the NSW Liberal Party, which has a page manager in France, seven in Australia and one in the Philippines.
Click on the Facebook question mark and a dropdown box explains that the “page transparency” link allows users to see the “primary country/region location for people who manage this page”.
A Liberal source claimed the countries represented were where an administrator may have once spent time or opened up a Facebook account. But this does not explain why only the Philippines comes up.
As for the Scott Morrison (ScoMo) Facebook page, it lists 22 administrators, with 20 in Australia, one in New Zealand and one in the UK.
Only Labor, The Nationals, The Greens and United Australia Party have administrators only listed as being in Australia.
HOME ALONE
When NSW Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello came down with Covid over the weekend, the triple-vaccinated Liberal frontbencher settled in on the couch with Panadol and some SBS.
But, given the combination of a nightmare-inducing high fever and being home alone, Dominello conceded bingeing on seven seasons of “hardcore survival” documentary Alone was probably not the best viewing idea.
The documentary tracks 10 people who are dropped off in separate remote locations to battle extreme isolation and psychological distress as they battle to stay alive.
The person who can stick it out the longest is awarded $500,000.
Given the raging high fever was already inducing vivid dreams, Dominello admitted Alone was probably not the best viewing decision.
“I, too, was in psychological distress,” he told The Sauce.
POWER AND THE PASSION
The things you do for love.
For former premier Gladys Berejiklian, it’s indulging your Midnight Oil-obsessed partner by accompanying him to an Oils concert.
The ex-leader and her barrister “boo” Arthur Moses SC were spotted by our spy holding hands as they walked towards the suites at Qudos Bank Arena for the band’s recent tour.
We presume watching a band known for its political activism, particularly in aid of environmental causes, and with a frontman in Peter Garrett who was once a federal Labor minister may not have been Glad’s first choice of a night out.
Especially given Berejiklian herself was a target when Garrett took aim at the Liberals over its plan to raise the Warragamba Dam wall — a move that some within the government claimed was primarily to enable more development to occur in Sydney’s west.
“Assaulting nature core business for NSW @GladysB it seems,” Garrett tweeted in 2018. “Drowning World Heritage Blue Mts for more development below Warragamba Dam.”
Given Moses himself once described himself as “persistent, loyal and annoying”, we’re guessing Glad had little choice in the matter but to go.
Got some Sauce? Contact linda.silmalis@news.com .au
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